In Tokyo, enthusiastic welcomes go over the top. Enter a department store when it opens and every member of the staff will be lined up at the door, white gloved, to bellow out a happy welcome.
As I personally tormented Japanese store clerks with complicated lost-in-translation questions, they’d behave as though if I were a most precious customer.
At Vancouver’s Minami Japanese restaurant, there’s a similar attitude (not that I tormented anyone there as far as I know). On the website, they talk up ningenmi, a “philosophy” on how to treat guests, fellow workers and oneself. It sounds like HR pamphlet talk but I feel the difference. There’s an electric current of cheerfulness running through the small army of staff. “The most interesting part about working here is how we say hi to each other every day when we come to work,” says Erica Pang, the company publicist. “No matter what position you are, you say ohayo gozaimas to every single person. Even when our owner, Seigo Nakamura comes in, he says hello to every single employee working.”
All that bonhomie amounts to little without good food, especially in Yaletown. No problem there. I suspect this new restaurant will bump off its sister restaurant, Miku, at the next Van Mag Restaurant Awards for one of the top three spots for fine Japanese dining.
Both restaurants specialize in aburi (flamed) sushi. It’s not a new idea but Miku and Minami (named after the owners’ daughters) add a “secret” sauce tailor-made for each variety of fish before torching. I’m not a rabid fan of aburi as I prefer the oceany freshness of raw sushi, brightened by lightly vinegared rice. That said, what I tried was beautifully made. Minami’s pressed aburi sushi (pressed and cut into rectangles, $14) are made with quality ingredients and a knowing hand. You’ll see the flame-thrower armed, not only with a butane torch but a piece of charcoal (binchotan) that is flamed at the same time as the sushi, imparting aroma and molecules of flavour.

I was more smitten by the shiso mojito watermelon and citrus-cured scallops sprinkled with bits of goat cheese, micro greens, pickled celery and cucumber ($13). Corporate chef Kazuya Matsuoka says the watermelon is cut into cubes and vacuum sealed with a mojito mix. “The liquid sucks in,” he says.
“New style gyoza” does deviate from old style – especially the foie gras gyoza with truffle dashi consomme. I steered around foie gras and went for spicy pork with savoy cabbage gyoza with a chili oil-soy, vinegar sauce ($11). Nicely done, especially as I’d had some at another restaurant the previous week with a thick, chewy wrapping – Minami’s is almost transparent.
A generous portion of aburi wagyu beef carpaccio ($16), comes with sous vide egg (cooked gently at trendy 64 F) just waiting to ooze into sauce. Asian pear slices, lotus root chips and jalapeno garlic ponzu joined the landscape.
There’s a handful of entree dishes. Miso-baked sablefish ($25) with yuzu miso foam signalled modernity; a side of delicious shrimp and crab dumpling showed it wasn’t a slap-dash dish. Yasai maki chicken ($23) rounds were stuffed with a mushroom mixture and were moist, tender.
Desserts at Japanese restaurants often seem like a Hello Kitty treat but Minami desserts are more Hello Cioppino’s. Pastry chef Cliff Janik worked at Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill and Enoteca and his desserts tend to be lusciously creamy.
An assembly of coconut cream, blueberry-blackberry compote, blueberry-lavender sorbet, sour cream chantilly, coconut cookie, with an intensely blueberry sorbet was gorgeous. Another seasonal dish, a rhubarb strawberry charlotte was a composition of sorbet, along with a compote, sauces and painted chocolate garnishes.
My husband was surprised when a server asked if he wanted his sake warmed. We thought good sakes were best served cold but Pang says some flavours of some of the bigger, bolder premium sakes open up when gently warmed.
Owner Nakamura runs nine restaurants in Japan but he’s now emotionally invested in Vancouver, naming his restaurants after his daughters and recently, moving here. And word is, he’s got more restaurants to come.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Ambience: ****
Service: ****
Price: $$/$$$

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Reviews are rated out of five stars.

$: Less than $60 for two without wine, tip and tax
$$: $60 to $120
$$$: more than $120

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